Balkans | Election season officially begins in Greece

The general elections scheduled for May 21 in Greece have officially started.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis visited President Ekaterini Sakellaropoulou to officially announce the May 21 elections in accordance with the Greek constitution.

Mitsotakis informed the Greek President of the Cabinet’s decision to hold general elections on May 21, 2023.

After the symbolic approval of the President of the Republic, the date of the elections was suspended at the entrance to the Greek Parliament, and it was announced that Parliament had been dissolved because of the elections.

According to the constitution, with the dissolution of Parliament, one of the chief justices, who holds the premiership, will rule the country until the completion of the elections.

With the official announcement of the date of the elections, the leaders of the political parties began to prepare for their visits to run their election campaigns.

Opinion polls show the conservative New Democracy Party, led by the ruling Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in the lead, swinging around 30 percent.

The radical left-wing party SYRIZA led by Alexis Tsipras, which fluctuated by 25 percent, is in second place. The PASOK Socialist Party, which is expected to play a “major” party in this election led by Nikos Androulakis, is in third place with its votes swinging around 10 percent.

However, since the May 21 elections were held with the “proportional election” system, it is believed that no party will reach the 46.7% rate required to form a government on its own.

For this reason, there is a suspicion that the elections will be repeated in early July, this time with an absolute majority.

In the second election, the party must achieve at least 38 percent in order to form a government on its own.

In this case, the party that comes first in the first election is supposed to get 38 percent in the second election.

However, in order for the second party to reach 38 percent, the third party has to cross the 3 percent threshold and enter parliament; There is even the possibility of cooperation with smaller parties.

BBC Turkish